TOKYO & NEW YORK--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--The SoftBank Group and WeWork Companies (“WeWork”) today announced a
joint venture that will bring WeWork’s transformational platform of
space, community, and services for companies of all sizes – including
creators, entrepreneurs, small and medium businesses, and large
multinational enterprises – to Japan. The SoftBank Group1 and
WeWork will each own 50% of the joint venture, which will operate under
the name of WeWork Japan. By entering Japan, WeWork will expand its
global community and connect its more than 130,000 members to the
innovative and growing Japanese market.

“With this joint venture, we look forward to collaborating with
WeWork to offer new possibilities for people in Japan.”

“Driven by Adam’s superior vision and his highly talented team, WeWork
is disrupting preconceived notions of work styles and opening up myriad
opportunities for the next generation of creators around the world by
taking a scientific approach that fully utilizes the latest
technologies,” said Masayoshi Son, Chairman & CEO of SoftBank Group
Corp. “With this joint venture, we look forward to collaborating with
WeWork to offer new possibilities for people in Japan.”

“At WeWork, we want to create a world where people work to make a life,
not just a living,” said Adam Neumann, Co-Founder and CEO of WeWork.
“When I met Masa and understood his vision for a technology-enabled
future, a vision I share, I knew that together we would be able to make
a big impact, grow our community and change how and where people work.
Both WeWork and SoftBank have established reputations for connecting
people and creating partnerships to facilitate innovation and inspire
new ideas. SoftBank shares our tenacity and entrepreneurial spirit and
through collaboration we will work to benefit people and communities in
many innovative ways. We are only as strong as our people and partners,
so we look forward to our future with SoftBank, welcoming Japan into our
global community and helping more creators and businesses to collaborate
and innovate together in ways they could not yet imagine."

WeWork, a platform for creators, has created an extensive global network
of shared workspaces. The company provides an entirely new way to work
by offering flexible space, services, and a connected community network
to creators, entrepreneurs, small and medium businesses, and
multinational companies. WeWork’s “space as a service” solution enables
companies of all sizes to enter and exit markets opportunistically, grow
and shrink office footprints according to their needs, and pursue new
business lines and ideas in a way that best suits their particular
needs. In offering its services in Japan, WeWork hopes to build
connections between non-Japanese members of WeWork’s global network and
the creators and businesses that drive the world’s third largest economy.

In the last year, WeWork has diversified its product offering to better
accommodate the needs of enterprise companies. Today, more than 10% of
Fortune 500 companies are members with WeWork. This segment represents
the fastest growing member demographic for WeWork and it now accounts
for more than 20% of WeWork’s total membership, indicating the enormous
potential for encouraging large and well-established companies to
collaborate and innovate within WeWork’s member community.

WeWork is committed to challenging outdated ways of building, using, and
interacting with physical space in a working environment. To do this, it
deploys industry-leading software and technology to maximize the
efficiency of its portfolio of workspace locations and its operations,
and thereby increase member satisfaction. The Company also uses
data-driven analytics to better understand how people operate in the
workplace and uses these insights to develop its product and create an
even more compelling offering for its members. As one of the few
end-to-end product companies that acts as an owner, operator, and client
organization, WeWork has developed proprietary technological data
systems that can source, design, and ultimately manage buildings.

WeWork is creating a digital operating system for physical space that
leverages data and technology at each point in the building process so
it can make better sourcing decisions, improve its designs, build faster
and smarter, and ultimately improve the lives of the people working
within its buildings. Its cutting-edge technologies and dedication to
technological innovation is one of the key reasons why WeWork has been
able to scale from operating one workspace location to more than 150 in
just over seven years.

WeWork plans to launch its first location in Tokyo in early 2018. To
oversee this launch and scale its Japanese operations, WeWork has
appointed Chris Hill to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of WeWork
Japan. Chris joined WeWork in 2010 shortly after its founding to serve
as the company’s first Chief Operating Officer. During his tenure at
WeWork, Chris has held several key executive functions, which include
serving as the Global Head of Community and Operations and, most
recently, serving as the Global Chief Community Officer. In these roles,
Chris has created, implemented, and scaled many of the processes,
operational frameworks, and strategies that are used to run WeWork
communities and create the highest level of member experience. Over the
past two years, Chris has spent extensive time overseas successfully
scaling the WeWork brand in foreign markets.

About the SoftBank Group

SoftBank is a global technology player that aspires to drive the
Information Revolution. SoftBank is comprised of the holding company
SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO: 9984), its domestic telecommunications
subsidiary SoftBank Corp., and its global portfolio of companies, which
includes advanced telecommunications, internet services, AI, smart
robotics, IoT and clean energy technology providers. In September 2016,
ARM Holdings plc, the world’s leading semiconductor IP company, joined
the SoftBank group. To learn more, please visit www.SoftBank.jp/en/

About WeWork

WeWork is a platform for creators, providing more than 130,000 members
around the world with space, community, and services through both
physical and virtual offerings. WeWork’s mission is to help create a
world where people work to make a life, not just a living. WeWork
currently has more than 150 physical locations in 49 cities and 15
countries around the world. WeWork, started in New York City in 2010,
was founded by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey.

1A subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp. (SBG) and SoftBank
Corp., a subsidiary of SBG and a telecom operating company in Japan,
will contribute to the joint venture.

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